Map of Happiness

This is a map of global levels of happiness, put together by a social psychologist at the University of Leicester. The original is found here. This could be useful for a discussion of how we measure things like "happiness," as well as the obvious correlation between levels of economic development and overall happiness of the population.

Thanks to Tracy R.!

Maid Café

CBS Sunday Morning had a segment on the new-ish phenomenon of "Maid Cafés." I gathered from the report that they are most popular in areas of Japan where there are a lot of (male) "geeks." Here's a description from a Boston.com article on these restaurants:

"Welcome home, Master," says the maid as she bows deeply, hands clasped in front of a starched pinafore worn over a short pink dress.

This maid serves not some aristocrat but a string of pop-culture-mad customers at a "Maid Cafe" in Tokyo's Akihabara district, long known as a Mecca for electronics buffs but now also the center of the capital's "nerd culture."

"When they address you as 'Master', the feeling you get is like a high," says Koji Abei, a 20-year-old student having coffee with a friend at the Royal Milk Cafe and Aromacare.

Here's a wikipedia description-- discussing how these cafés pull various cultural practices-- Japanese manga, anime, Japanese geishas, and French (or English) maids. Apparently, there are now Maid Cafés in Canada and Hong Kong (the one in Hong Kong is called the "Master-and-maid café"). Here are some videos as well-- from the U.S. news, and from Japanese news (sorry it isn't translated). These might make for an interesting discussion on culture, globalization, and gender.

Resident Evil 5: Africa Is the Dark Continent

Here is the trailer for Resident Evil 5, which is not yet on the market:



The player is the sole white person in a dismal, threatening city, apparently in Africa. The locals engage in torture (which we see in some detail) and gleefully cheer at a hanging. At one point the hero is accosted by an angry mob, all of whom just make gutteral, animal-like sounds. In a beleagured voice he tells us he just doesn't know "if it's all worth fighting for. Who knows?" Oh, the white man's burden, indeed!

Thanks once again, Patrick C.!

Asian Eyelid Cosmetic Surgery

Here is a link to the website of Dr. Frank Meronk, a plastic surgeon. This particular page showcases the Asian eyelid surgeries the doctor has performed. Here are some before-and-after photos:

And another set:

The website also has some interesting commentary on why Asians should get this surgery:

Irrespective of ethnicity, an upper eyelid is typically considered more
attractive by most people if it lacks excessive skin and fat, possesses a
reasonably defined crease (which makes the eye appear bigger--a universal signal
of youth and attention), and displays at least some platform of exposed skin
between the crease and the eyelashes (which, in ladies, allows for a more
effective application of makeup). A well-contoured lower eyelid free of bulging
fat projects an image of youth, energy, and rest. While all so-called
"standards" of physical beauty are culturally variable and dependent upon the
eye of the beholder, most experienced eyelid surgeons agree that the qualities
noted here are generally appreciated across many diverse cultures and not solely
a matter of Western bias.

There are a couple of particularly note-worthy points here--the argument that a particular eyelid shape is just universally more attractive (a fact attested to by "experienced eyelid surgeons," who would clearly be objective), and that it's worth undergoing surgery to be able to wear makeup more "effectively," whatever that means.

And don't worry--they can do this surgery on you even if you're of "mixed heritage"!

Luckily, patients don't wait until they start aging to take care of their eyelids:

In general, patients seeking double eyelid surgery to create or enhance a weak
crease are not just young but often very young. Aging
tendencies have not yet made an appearance.

Don't worry, men can have the surgery too.

Kitchen Cabinets with Naked Woman on Front

Susanne T. sent me this image. She is in Latvia and walks by a furniture store every day that has this set of kitchen cabinets visible from the street.

I think it's especially interesting that, unless Latvia has a much more egalitarian division of household labor than the U.S., it would be primarily women using this cabinet to do dishes. Susanne, any information about gender and housework in Latvia?

Race and Masculinity

These images are a 3-part ad for a Discovery channel reality show. The first page had the guy with his face being painted and says "Live like a tribesman." The second page had him running and says "Train like a soldier." And then, as you can see in the previous post, they show him wrestling with a black African "tribesman," I guess. It appears this is a reality show where we see if a white guy can learn to be a primitive tribesman and show his superiority to the actual "tribesmen" (I'm not sure how I feel about that term).